EnglishMain Dictionary
phantom
Universal Words
noun, adjective
noun
1 a ghost:
the phantom of his dead father
2 a thing that exists only in your imagination:
Phantoms and chimeras inhabited her brain.
adjective [onlybeforenoun]
1 like a ghost:
a phantom horseman
2 existing only in your imagination:
phantom fears / illnesses * a phantom pregnancy (= a condition in which a woman seems to be pregnant but in fact is not)
3 that people think exists but that in fact does not:
phantom assets / profits